MMRDA floats bids for third time to appoint operator for Mumbai monorail

The planning authority received a very poor response in the first two attempts to find a new contractor

Monorail operations have been suspended since the fire on November 9(HT FILE)

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) on Monday invited bids for the operation and maintenance of the monorail corridor, for the third time in a year. The planning authority received a very poor response in the first two attempts to find a new contractor.

When tenders were floated for the first time in early 2017, bidders had reverted with problems in tender conditions, owing to which the conditions were relaxed. However, after tenders were floated the second time in October, the MMRDA received just a single bidder - ILFS. On November 9, two rakes of a monorail were charred in a fire at the Mysore colony station, after which the operations have been suspended till date.

A senior official from the MMRDA said, “Since we got (only) a single response even after changing tender conditions, we had to bid again. We are expecting a good response now as once the entire corridor is functional, the monorail’s ridership will also see a boost.”

The ridership for monorail phase-I (Chembur-Wadala) has been pegged at 17,000 -18,000 passengers per day and the MMRDA expects this to increase once the entire corridor is functioning. The second phase is from Wadala to Jacob Circle. However, till now, there is no clarity on when phase-1 will resume operations.

Since its inception in 2014, the monorail has been marred by disruptions and delays. Due to the delay in operationalising phase-2 of the corridor, as per initial agreements, the MMRDA has also slapped a fine of Rs7.5 lakh per day on the current contractor - Malaysia-based Scomi. The penalty is being charged since January 1, 2018.